Regional Innovation Officer of The Bloch Quantum, Chicago Quantum Exchange

at  The University of Chicago

Department
PME Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE)
About the Department
The Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE) is an intellectual hub in the Midwest that connects leading universities, national labs, and industry partners to advance the science and engineering of quantum information, train the future quantum workforce, and drive the quantum economy. The CQE is based at the University of Chicago and anchored by the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Northwestern University, and Purdue University. The community includes more than 50 corporate, international, nonprofit, and regional partners and is one of the largest collaborative teams working on quantum science in the world. The CQE leads national initiatives, including The Bloch Quantum Tech Hub, a US Economic Development Administration (EDA) designation endorsing the Chicago metro area as a central driver of US leadership in quantum technologies.
Job Summary
The Regional Innovation Officer (RIO) leads The Bloch, including developing and executing strategic, governance, and reporting functions to rally entire sectors around leveraging quantum information science and technology for societal challenges. The RIO brings critical industries and quantum technologists together to build large-scale solutions to global problems in the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area. The RIO also leads the CQE’s Industry Partnerships team, a primary driver of The Bloch’s work, including overseeing more than 40 corporate partners and the CQE assistant director of Industry Partnerships.

Responsibilities

• Designs, implements, and manages The Bloch’s shared vision and strategy in alignment with the Chicago Quantum Exchange and reporting to its CEO.
• Implements The Bloch’s EDA Consortium Accelerator Award to attract capital and strengthen a coalition of Fortune 500 companies, startups, world-leading universities, state and city governments, community colleges, and economic and workforce development nonprofits.
• Engages key stakeholders, internal leadership, external partners, and others to broker deals, enhance The Bloch’s position, and grows its constellation of partnerships.
• Leverage knowledge of the quantum marketplace and connected trends to foster Bloch industry collaborations, programs, and workforce initiatives for the regional quantum economy.
• Serves as EDA’s primary point of contact for The Bloch, including leadership and presentations at EDA convenings.
• Coordinates clear and effective governance for The Bloch, including quarterly governance meetings.
• Leads regular Bloch convenings to maximize connections, share information, and develop engagement opportunities.
• Secures funding from philanthropic, corporate, venture, and federal sources of capital to establish and lead new Bloch initiatives and programs.
• Manage the CQE and Bloch’s portfolio of industry partners, catalyzing broad efforts to develop the quantum ecosystem, including developing corporate-sponsored research, trainee workforce development and employee recruitment, and other collaborations.
• Manages the CQE Assistant Director of Industry Partnerships.
• Develops Bloch data collection and tracking processes, leveraging the CQE’s Salesforce system, to track growth, measure impact, inform course-corrections, and communicate The Bloch impact to a wide variety of audiences, maximizing engagement, fundraising, and overall impact.
• Works with the full CQE team to ensure integration of The Bloch activities into the CQE community and capitalize on broader ecosystem opportunities.
• Acts as a lead researcher and planner for a wide array of efforts led by the department/division.
• Establishes and maintains a database of peer and competitor profiles. Helps develop and maintain a database of faculty (international) research topics and international inter-institutional collaborations.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications
Education:
Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.
-
Work Experience:
Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 7+ years of work experience in a related job discipline.
-
Certifications:
-
Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• MBA or advanced degree in the sciences.

Experience:

• Work experience in science, technology, business, or a related job discipline is helpful.
• Working within an academic unit, higher education, and/or complex environment is a plus.
• Leading a data-driven team towards meeting organizational goals and objectives.

Technical Skills or Knowledge:

• Excellent computer skills evidenced by proficiency in Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat.
• Project management skills including budget management, KPI tracking, and attention to detail.

Preferred Competencies

• Demonstrated excellent written and verbal presentation skills, coupled with excellent editing, proofreading and interviewing skills.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex ideas into clear, compelling, and thoughtful messaging.
• A proven track record as a strong strategic thinker with a results orientation who approaches any challenge with thoughtfulness, drive, data usage, and appropriate urgency.
• Maintain calm and courteous demeanor and to work productively and efficiently despite heavy workload, competing priorities, constant interruptions, complex problems, and tight deadlines.
• Cultivate relationships and work with multiple stakeholders to build successful business and development partnerships.
• High level of collegiality in working with faculty, staff, departmental and university administrators, including enthusiasm, energy, and creativity.
• High cultural awareness and experience working across sectors, including with industry and international partners.
• A collaborative, diplomatic, and flexible ‘hands-on’ team leader and player who builds strong relationships internally and externally, and works well under pressure, thriving under tight deadlines.
• Excellent interpersonal skills including outstanding judgment, discretion, a strong ethical approach to decision-making and a demonstrated ability to resolve conflicts fairly and diplomatically, and ability to maintain confidentiality.
• Work independently, take direction, and achieve consensus. Handle public contacts with courtesy, clarity, and diplomacy.

Working Conditions

• Office environment, remote working environment.
• Occasional extended work hours and some weekend days.

Application Documents

• Resume/CV (required)
• Cover Letter (required)
• Professional References Contact Information (3)(preferred)
• Writing or Presentation Sample (preferred)

When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.
Job Family
Administration & Management
Role Impact
Individual Contributor
FLSA Status
Exempt
Pay Frequency
Monthly
Scheduled Weekly Hours
37.5
Benefits Eligible
Yes
Drug Test Required
No
Health Screen Required
No
Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required
No
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• Designs, implements, and manages The Bloch’s shared vision and strategy in alignment with the Chicago Quantum Exchange and reporting to its CEO.
• Implements The Bloch’s EDA Consortium Accelerator Award to attract capital and strengthen a coalition of Fortune 500 companies, startups, world-leading universities, state and city governments, community colleges, and economic and workforce development nonprofits.
• Engages key stakeholders, internal leadership, external partners, and others to broker deals, enhance The Bloch’s position, and grows its constellation of partnerships.
• Leverage knowledge of the quantum marketplace and connected trends to foster Bloch industry collaborations, programs, and workforce initiatives for the regional quantum economy.
• Serves as EDA’s primary point of contact for The Bloch, including leadership and presentations at EDA convenings.
• Coordinates clear and effective governance for The Bloch, including quarterly governance meetings.
• Leads regular Bloch convenings to maximize connections, share information, and develop engagement opportunities.
• Secures funding from philanthropic, corporate, venture, and federal sources of capital to establish and lead new Bloch initiatives and programs.
• Manage the CQE and Bloch’s portfolio of industry partners, catalyzing broad efforts to develop the quantum ecosystem, including developing corporate-sponsored research, trainee workforce development and employee recruitment, and other collaborations.
• Manages the CQE Assistant Director of Industry Partnerships.
• Develops Bloch data collection and tracking processes, leveraging the CQE’s Salesforce system, to track growth, measure impact, inform course-corrections, and communicate The Bloch impact to a wide variety of audiences, maximizing engagement, fundraising, and overall impact.
• Works with the full CQE team to ensure integration of The Bloch activities into the CQE community and capitalize on broader ecosystem opportunities.
• Acts as a lead researcher and planner for a wide array of efforts led by the department/division.
• Establishes and maintains a database of peer and competitor profiles. Helps develop and maintain a database of faculty (international) research topics and international inter-institutional collaborations.
• Performs other related work as needed